


Life Unexpected

by leveragus



Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-03
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2017-12-31 09:30:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leveragus/pseuds/leveragus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life suddenly changes when a surprising visitor comes knocking on Nate's door. Set at the beginning of Season 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Life Unexpected**

Nate sighed as he watched Hardison trafficking in his living room. It was in those moment that he wished he were drinking again, instead, since he had been sober for eight months now, he went behind the kitchen counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. He had lost count of how many he already had that day.

"Hardison" he intervened once he heard hammering coming behind him "It's just a football game. There's no need to destroy my apartment in the process"

  
"Destroy? Destroy?" he shrieked "Do you have any idea what I'm doing to improve your home cinema system? It's going to be awesome, it will be like we're actually inside the game. You're going to love the all 3D experience" he smirked.

  
"3D?" Eliot had just walked through the front door. "I ain't going to wear ridiculous glasses, Hardison. No way!" he grunted as he put a carried bag on the counter and started taking the groceries out it.

  
"Hey, don't kill it until you've tried it!" Hardison shouted back at him

  
Nate watched as Eliot took out bottles of Hardison's favourite orange soda, packets of pop-corn, crisps and cans of coke which he presumed were for Eliot. Nate rolled his eyes and opened the fridge to grab a glass of his homemade cranberry soda that the mastermind had started drinking instead of alcohol before making his way to the couch.

  
"You could have bought some beer for you" he told the hitter. "it's not like I'm going to punch you for a sip"

  
"Yeah, right" he chuckled finding the all idea of Nate attacking him and having the best of him absurd. "It's fine" Eliot filled some bowls with popcorn and crisps and then joined the other on the couch after grabbing his coke. "we didn't want you to fall in temptation, especially tonight."

  
Nate frowned. "Why? What's happening tonight?"

  
Eliot and Hardison exchange a nervous look. "Well…" the hacker began "… you know, the all Sophie going out with her boyfriend."

  
"I'm okay with Sophie going out" it was he fast reply. "She can date whoever she wants" he took a sip of drink and turned towards the monitor making sure they understood that the conversation was over. He wasn't going to let them see how it bothered him that Sophie was with someone. When the team had come back into his life, he had hoped that he and Sophie would finally take a shot at starting a relationship. He had been really disappointed when she had turned him down after their first con and told him she had a girlfriend. In one second he saw all his chances blew up in flames.

  
"Of course" Eliot chuckled in amusement. "Like there's nothing going on between you two"

  
"There's never been anything going between me and Sophie and there never will be"

  
"You keep saying that" Hardison teased him like Eliot. "Like you ain't jealous about her man"

  
"Is it ready?" Nate said annoyed dropping the sore subject again. "Can we watch this match?"

  
"Yep, here's your 3D glasses" both Nate and Eliot eyed them doubtfully, but then they put them on "Hey, where's Parker?"

  
The hitter shrugged and grabbed some pop-corn from the bowl. "She said that she had something to do and that she was going to come by later"

  
"I bet she's stealing something" the hacker smirked.

  
"She'd better not be!" Nate groaned. When Parker went for one of her stealing adventures, they often had to clean up her mess. Not that she was sloppy. Parker was the best thief around. It was when she put the things she stole back that she could be very… creative.

  
The three men had been watching the football match for almost half an hour. Eliot and Nate had to admit that watching it in 3D wasn't so bad, actually it was fun. They were laughing and relaxing when they heard a knock on the door. The three looked at each other. Nobody usually knocked.

  
"Who could it be?" Hardison asked.

  
"Well, we ain't going to find out by sitting here" Eliot said while turning back to the match.

  
"Who's going?"

  
"You are" Nate and Eliot said at the same time.

  
The hacker sighed and reluctantly he went to open the front door. "Hmm… yeah?" he raised both his eyebrow in shock and the figure standing at the other side.

  
"Does a Nathan Ford live here?"

  
"Ah… sure" Hardison let the figure inside.

  
"Who i…" Eliot stopped mid-sentence and stared at their visitor.

  
"She's looking for Nate" Hardison went back to sit on the couch figuring that she was just a possible client.

  
Nate stared at the little girl who was awkwardly standing in the hall. He got up and walked towards her curious about what had brought her there in the first place. "Hi, I'm Nathan Ford." He smiled. He could see that the girl was a bit frightened and he wanted to try to make her comfortable.

  
The girl eyed him from head to toes, like she was judging him for something "Hi." She gave him a small tempted smile "I'm Amy"

  
"And what brings you here, Amy?"

  
"Well… according to my birth certificate you're my father, so that would make me your daughter"

  
They heard choking sounds coming from the sitting area. Hardison had chosen that moment to take a sip of his drink and he was now coughing orange soda all over the place.

  
Nate stood there looking at the girl in disbelieve. "I… I …." He stammered.

  
"You're in shock" she shrugged "That's fine. But could I have something to eat, please? I haven't eating anything since last night"""

  
Nate took a good look at the child in front of him. He could see that she had taken this journey all alone and he wondered where her parents where. There was obviously some kind of mistake, he couldn't be the Nathan Ford she was looking for. But she looked tired and famish and there was something in her eyes, her deep blue eyes, that reminded him so much of his son.

  
"Sure" he nodded. "Eliot, could you…?"

  
"No problem" The hitter got up and went to cook something fast in the kitchen.

  
"You can have a seat" Nate nodded towards the chairs and then he went to sit on one of them, hoping she would join him.

  
Amy took off her backpack and jacket and laid them next to the kitchen stool. She sat on the chair opposite Nate's and she studied him.

  
"So…" Nate said awkwardly "Look kid, I don't know what you believe but I can't be your dad. You are, what? Seven years old?"

  
"Seven and a half" she paused "Nearly eight"

  
"That's what I'm saying. There's no way…"

  
Amy suddenly got up from the table and went to the get something from her bag. She then rushed back and gave Nate a piece of paper.

"Look! It says Nathan Ford born in Boston the 16th August 1965. I searched on Google and you're the only one that came up."

  
Eliot slid a plate in front of her and she quickly dig into her spaghetti with tomato sauce.

  
"Looks legit man" Hardison peaked from behind the mastermind shoulder who was still looking at the birth certificate stunned.

  
"How..?" He shook his head. His name. His name was actually printed. "There's no name listed under the mother"

  
Amy just shrugged and kept eating.

  
"How did you even get this?" Nate continued.

  
"I stole it from my social worker's office" she replied with her mouth full.

  
"Did you say "stole"?" Hardison smirked. "Oh, she's already in the family business."

  
"Hardison!" Nate snapped frustrated. He was still trying to figure everything. "I don't understand. Eight years ago I was still married to Maggie, how…"

  
Then the front door suddenly burst open. "So," a female voice shrieked. "what's this emergency that I had to come straight here for?"

  
Nate head snapped up and gasped. All the piece of the puzzle came together and he finally had a clear picture in his mind.

  
Hardison and Eliot noticed the realization hit the mastermind and looked between Nate, the woman and the girl.

  
"Nothing ever happened, huh?" Eliot muttered.

_Paris 2002_

"Freeze!" he shouted holding a gun in his hand.

  
Sophie acted on instinct, she grab the gun and shot the intruder. It happened all in a second and she hadn't recognized him, but the thief in her was telling her to carry on, so she quickly turned around and that's when she felt the sting on her back.

  
"You wanker" she snapped her head around and gave him a deadly glare.

  
Suddenly the lights outside the corridors came on and they heard French voice coming from downstairs followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

  
"Let's go!" Nate hissed grimacing at the pain on his shoulder.

  
Sophie raised both her eyebrow in question, but she still ran away followed by Nate

  
"I get why I want to leave this place in a hurry, but why you?"

  
"Well, the people you were stealing from aren't exactly police friendly." The passed through the back door leading outside and then Nate pushed a garbage can in front of door blocking the way. "You know being mob and all" he replied sarcastically.

  
"Mob?" she shrieked. Her back where she has shot him was killing and she noticed that he was losing a lot of blood from his shoulder wound.  
They needed to find repair and take care of their wounds.

  
"You didn't know? Don't you usually make some kind of research before doing an heist?" he followed her down the streets of Paris.

  
Sophie stopped suddenly and he gave her a confused look. She started looking around thinking about what to do. Could she take him to her apartment? Could she trust him? After making up her mind she took his right hand in hers and dragged him behind her. They couldn't take a taxi, the driver would certainly notice the blood, so they went down to the underground knowing people tend to keep for themselves and not noticing who is around them.

  
Twenty minutes later there were inside Sophie's apartment. Nate looked around trying to discover more about the woman that somehow intrigued him.

  
"We need to take care of our wounds" she told him coming back from the bathroom with a med kit and they sat next to each other on the bed.

  
"Ladies first" he smirked.

  
She rolled her eyes. "What a gentleman" but she started taking her shirt off anyway and turned around giving him her back.

  
"What happened to the woman that flirted with me all night in Venice?" he lightly touched her wound to examine it.

  
"You know getting shot tends to take the romanticism away" she winced when he touched a delicate spot.

  
"Well, there's no bullet. Actually it's more a graze you don't even need stitches, I'll just clean in and patch it up."

  
"Good job you're a lousy shot then" she smiled back at him.

  
"Or that I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't mean to shoot you. It was just a reflex shot." He tried to explain as he finished helping her.

  
"I'm sure" she told him still not convinced as she got up and went to the her closet to get a clean shirt. Nate tried not to stare too long at her bare back or at her black lacy bra. As soon as she came he averted his eyes trying to act like he wasn't doing anything wrong, but Sophie had caught him staring and smirked. "Now, let's work on you. Shirt off." She ordered as she prepared what she needed.

  
His wound was definitely different from hers and more serious. She went to get some extra towels while Nate was struggling taking his shirt and undershirt off. Sophie saw it and helped him taking his clothes off. She had certainly fantasized about having Nathan Ford on her bed  
half naked, but those were certainly not the right circumstances.

  
He noticed her blush and he grinned. "What? Some fantasy coming true?"

  
Sophie looked down at him a bit shocked. He usually didn't flirt back. She knew he had a wife and small son waiting for him at home. She had always teased him and flirted because he was a safe bet. Someone she couldn't have and that couldn't hurt her. "You wished" she told him huskily.

  
Nate hissed in pain when she removed his undershirt. The blood had already dried and it had got stuck on his skin.

  
"Sorry" she whispered apologetically feeling his pain. "I'm going to give you a shot to numb the pain" she filled a syringe and the stuck the needle in skin.

  
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he bit his lower lip trying not to groan in pain.

  
"Not really , no"

  
"What?" he shrieked.

  
"Relax" she smiled. "You're not my first patient." She climbed on top of his lap and straddled him, making herself comfortable

  
She then sterilized the instruments and worked to extract the bullet she had put there in the first place from his shoulder. It took her awhile to find the piece of metal as she searched with the tweezers. Nate squirmed beneath her. She might be straddling his lap –which he was so trying to ignore at the moment – and of course it wasn't so distracting especially with the shooting pain. Not even her sweet citrus perfume that was invading his senses was distracting enough.

  
"God, are you nearly done?" he groaned.

  
"Almost…"and with one finally pull she got the bullet out. "There it is"

  
"Yes, and whose fault is that?"

  
"Are you ever going to forget about it?" she rolled her eyes at him and got ready to close the wound.

  
"Will you?" he raised his eyebrow in question referring to him shooting her back.

  
"No, probably not." She smiled.

  
He carefully watched her as she was concentrating while stitching his gash. He loved her small frown as she wiggled her nose, her deep dark eyes, her delicate touch on his skin. He had found her attractive from the moment he had seen her stealing a Degas in Prague just three years before. She was a beautiful, gorgeous woman, he couldn't deny that. But then they caught with each other, she had flirted with him, tempted him, almost letting him forget about his family that was waiting for him at the other side of the ocean, and he got to know her and the more he began falling in love. He wasn't sure if she was really showing him her true personality or just a character that she loved playing, but in some occasion he was sure she had dropped her walls and gave him a glimpse of the real her.

Almost like he had no control, his right hand sneaked upwards delicately tracing her tight. A small movement from her eyes told him that she had felt him, but didn't stop him so his hand continued to travel up until it found her curvy behind.

  
"Hey there, mister" she was finally acknowledging him.

  
"Yes?" he smirked but he still kept his hand on her body.

  
"Aren't you grabby tonight?" she cut the thread and put a bandage around his shoulder and torso. "What's got into you?"

  
"Maybe getting shot turns me on" he told her hoarsely as he leaned forward so she could roll his bandage around. His face was a few inches from hers and he heard her quick gasp and fast heart beating.

  
"Nate…" she breathed feeling the air tense between them. Just an hour before she was angry at him for shooting her and now she just couldn't stop thinking about kissing those inviting lips and feels his hands all over her. "You're married." She tried to reason with him. This was a bad idea, such a bad idea. She couldn't sleep with an IYS agent.

  
"Actually at the moment I'm separated"

  
"What?" she cried surprised. If there was thing she knew for sure about Nathan Ford it was that he was firm Catholic and valued his vows.

"but… but you have a little son and…"

  
"Maggie filed it a couple of months ago. She said is she fed up of me being away for so long and other things…" he cut off. "So there's nothing stopping me from doing this." He nipped at the side of her neck. Then his lips found her collarbone, her cheek, the nose, the corner of her mouth leaving her craving for more until she finally caught his face with both of her hands and trapped him. Their eyes were firmly locked, communicating, challenging, begging and then they couldn't remember who made the first move and it wasn't really that important.  
Their lips found each other, devouring each other, tongues dueling, stealing each other breaths. Nate pushed her shirt up, his hands caressing her back until they found the rough material of the patch he had placed moments before. His shoulder was killing him, but he ignored it. All he wanted was this moment, that night of passion. All he needed was her.

  
Sophie gently pushed his upper body down. She was already straddling his lap, so she already had where she wanted him. Once their kiss broke, her lips descended. She kissed his new injury, a small careless above the bandage, almost an apology for hurting him. Then she kissed his chest, his hair tickling her check, abdomen, his stomach. Her lips went back to claim his. This kiss was more intense, more lovingly. They didn't know if this was going to be an isolated incident or the first of many nights together, but they were going to enjoy and cherish every second of it.

  


_Present Day_

  
"Who sent you a text?" Eliot asked curiously knowing that all three of them have been too busy to send anything.

  
Sophie walked further inside the apartment and threw her jacket and bag on the couch. "Parker. She sent me a text about ten minutes ago saying it was urgent. I came as fast as I could."

  
"Parker?"

  
"Hi guys" Parker suddenly appeared in the room. She had just dropped down from the stairs leading to Nate's bedroom.

  
"You were in my bedroom. Why were you in my bedroom?"

  
"Were you spying on us?"

  
Parker ignored Nate's complaint and answered Hardison's question instead. "I wasn't spying. I was studying. Sophie said I needed to study people's behavior so, I've been observing you for almost an hour now"

  
"You were lurking" Eliot grunted.

  
"Guys, can we get back on track here?" Sophie sighed exasperated. "What's the emergency?" Her eyes landed on the girl who had just finished eating. "Who's the girl?"

  
"You and I need to talk!" Sophie soon noticed his dark expression and the angry tone in his voice. What was going on?

  
Nate silently went upstairs and Sophie soon followed after exchanging worried and questioning looks with the others who just shrugged.

  
"This is not going be good" Hardison muttered.

  
"Yeah, we should probably take the kid outside" Eliot nodded at the girl. "How about going for an ice-cream?"

  
Amy didn't know if she could trust these people, but something inside her told her it was okay, so she nodded and followed the others out.

  
Nate was waiting for Sophie at the entrance of his bedroom and as soon as she walked inside the room he slammed the door behind them.

  
"Nate!" she shouted startled and annoyed. "What's going on?"

  
"Why didn't you tell me?" he shouted back.

  
"Tell you what?"

  
"That I have a daughter!" He was angry, furious. The situation had finally hit him. He had a daughter and she had kept her from him. He had another child, someone else after Sam. He ran his hands through his hair and paced.

  
Sophie stood motionless in shock. Millions of question were running through her head. "That was…" she whispered turning her head around to the direction of the door like she could see through walls and look where the girl had been sitting. Her baby girl. "How…" she gulped. "How did she find us?"

  
"We'll get to that later" Nate said in a more quiet tone. He was wondering too how the girl had find them and why then. "First, tell me everything"

  
She sighed. "What is there to tell?" she sat on the edge of Nate's bed and hid her face in her hands before looking back up to him. "It happened… that day in Paris"

  
"Yeah, I've figured that out. What I want to know is why you never told you were pregnant?" he hissed.

  
"When Nate? When was I supposed to tell you? We hadn't seen each other for over two months after that day…"

  
_Nate slowly woke up with the annoying ringing of his mobile phone. He groaned and reached out for the disturbing sound with his left hand. That had been a bad idea as a shot of pain ran through all his body. He was gradually remembering the events of the previous day and he opened his eyes._   


  
_"Shut it off!" came a mumble from his right side._   


  
_The woman next to him rolled to her other side giving him her back. Finally the ringing had stopped, bringing back the quiet. Nate turned to his right side and ran his left hand up and down her naked skin, before planting delicate kisses on her shoulder._   


  
_"Hmm…" she moaned._   


  
_"Good morning" he smiled, face buried against her neck inhaling her perfume and that sweet scent that was strictly hers which always drove him crazy._   


  
_" 'morning" she turned around and captured his lips for a passionate kiss._   


  
_"How are you feeling?" he asked once they broke the kiss._   


  
_"Better. You were the one who had lost a lot of blood" Sophie traced his wound through the white bandage._   


  
_"I'm fine" he chuckled. "I guess you know how to make an impression."_   


  
_"Well, you'll think of me every time you see the scar" She went to kiss him again, but his phone started ringing again._   


  
_He groaned in frustration. "I'd better get that"_   


  
_He got up from the bed and retrieved the phone from his trousers which were laying on the floor._   


  
_"Hello" he answered sitting on the edge of the bed. Sophie crawled towards him and wrapped her arms around him trying to distract him from the call. She ran her hands up his chest and softly blew air in his ear before gently nipping on his lobe._   


  
_"Yes sir, I understand. I can at least have…" he bend his head down and ran a hand over his face. He closed the phone call and sighed._   


  
_"Bad news" she could fell his tension on the muscle of his back._   


  
_"Yeah" he slightly turned his head to look at her. "I have to go. My orders are to leave on the first plane for L.A."_   


  
_She gulped trying not to cry in front of him. "I see" she turned around and got up from the bed and quickly grabbed a robe from the chair._   


  
_"I know this looks bad…" he tried to apologize. Leaving so soon after the night they spend together felt so wrong, but he didn't have any choice._   


  
_"It's not your fault" she hid her disappointment behind her smile._   


  
_He quickly got up and tried to get dressed. He needed to go back to his hotel to get his thing and then a ticket was waiting for him at the airport. Once he was ready he pause, knowing it was time for them to say goodbye. "When will we see each other again?"_   


  
_"I don't know. I need to lay low for a while. Maybe I'll go on holiday somewhere. Some place exotic. You could always join me" she flirted._   


  
_With the look she was giving him, Nate would have followed her anywhere and he really wished he could. "I…"_   


  
_"Work. I know"_   


  
_He smiled sadly. "I'll call you. I promise."_   


  
_He gave her one last kiss, something for them to keep until they would see each other again, and he left._   


  
"… and when I found out about it I was going to tell you."

  
_Sophie was waiting patiently in the doctor's office. Lately she had been having a lot of headaches, dizziness and vomiting. After nearly two weeks, she had finally decided to go to the doctor's to have everything check. They had visited her and taken her blood. Two hours later they had their results._   


  
_She turned around hearing the door open behind her. Her doctor, Diane Scott, walked behind her desk, a file in her hand._   


  
_"Did you find out what's wrong with me?" Sophie asked once she had sat down._   


  
_"Yes," she gave her a cryptic smile. "Don't worry, it's nothing serious. They are going to be a lot of changes in your life"_   


  
_Sophie shook her head in confusion. "What is it?"_   


  
_"You're pregnant. Congratulations" Diane Scott smiled._   


  
_"What…" she gasped. "How did…" Sophie was in shock. She wasn't expecting that. People like her, grifters, thieves, they don't get pregnant; it's too dangerous._   


  
_"Do you know how far along are you?" the doctor wrote some notes._   


  
_"Yeah…" Sophie remember exactly when it happened._   


  
_"Well, we can schedule a visit for next week. There are some more tests I would like you to take. For now here's a prescription for some pre-natal vitamins."_   


  
_Sophie took the piece of paper without thinking about it._   


  
_"Is the father in the picture?"_   


  
_That was a really good question._   


  
"I came to L.A. but you were already back with Maggie and I couldn't just do that to you" she started crying.

  
_When the news that she was expecting a baby finally sunk in, Sophie next decision to take was what she was going to do about it. She knew she could really make any definitive decision without telling Nate first. She had heard he was in L.A. There was going to be an important art exhibition, most paintings were insured by IYS, and he was going to be one of the agents in charge of their security._   


_She had called his office, telling she was a potential client. His secretary didn't hesitate to give her his current location. So that day she went to the park where he was spending his lunch break. She saw him in the distance and she could help but smile. She had missed him._

_She was making her way towards him, but stopped suddenly when she saw the woman and small child with him. Nate was throwing a ball to the boy and his wife was chasing both of them. They looked happy, laughing while playing on the grass. They were a family. She laid a hand on her still flat abdomen. She knew that she couldn't have that. Nate and her could never been that picture. Silently tears began streaming down her face. She quickly dried her eyes and walked away._

  
He shook his head in frustration. "We weren't back together. Sam was having trouble with our separation, so we decided to move in together for his sake. We were sleeping in different bedrooms. Then Sam got sick and everything moved so fast…"

  
"I wasn't going to ruin your family just for a one time fling"

  
He kneeled in front of her. "It wasn't like that, you know it was more than that" he tried catching her eyes with his. "I thought it was you who didn't want anything to do with me. I tried to contact but you disappeared. I hadn't seen you for over a year and then that time in Tuscany you've acted like nothing had happened, so…"

  
"I struggled so much with my decision." She suddenly changed subject.

  
_"What are you going to do about it?" her friend Tara asked from across the room._   


  
_Sophie had called her the week before telling her that she need a friend, someone to talk to. Tara had told that she was in the middle of a con but that she was going to meet her in London as soon as she was free._   


  
_"I don't know"_   


  
_"You could always…"_   


  
_"No" she shook her head. "I'm not having an abortion, I can't"_   


  
_"Okay" the blonde thief but her hands up in surrender. "I still can't believe it with slept with IYS agent. What were you thinking?"_   


  
_"It's not like that…"_   


  
_"Oh my God" Tara gasped "You're in love with him"_   


  
_"I…"_   


  
_"Why haven't you told him about the baby?"_   


  
_"It's complicated."_   


  
_"Well, are you going to keep it? You know how hard it's too raise a child with what we do. It would mean leaving everything."_   


  
_"I know. This child deserves better. It deserves a family."_   


  
"You have no idea what I went through and then I knew that the right choice was to give her away for adoption. I wasn't fit to be a mother, not at that time."

  
"Why did you tell me when we I came to you in Chicago? Why never mentioned it?" he pleaded.

  
She gave a small sad laugh. "For what Nate? So you couldn't think about a kid you were never going to meet. I made the right decision. You can stay there, judge me and hate me as much as you like, but I know it was the right thing"

  
"Well, sorry it I don't agree with you" he got up angrily. He paused. He was angry, yes. But he was also sad and mourning for the life they could have had. "If only… if only you would have told me all those years ago, things… things would have been a lot different"

  
"What? An IYS agent and a grifter playing happy family? Keep thinking that. Keep living the illusion" He wasn't going to do it, he wasn't going to make her regret her choice.

  
"So what now?"

  
"I don't know" she sighed. "I guess we try to find out why she's here. Last I've heard, she had been adopted by a nice family."

  
"Well she mention a social worker, so something must have wrong"

  
"You don't think…" she panicked. The one thing that kept her sane all those years was the thought that her baby girl was in a loving a family, having the life she would never have been able to give to her. But what if something had gone wrong?

  
"Let's go talk to our daughter" he exclaimed.


	2. Chapter 2

When they went down the stairs, they noticed the room was empty.

"Where is everyone?" Nate asked looking around.

In that moment the front door opened and Eliot was the first to walk in. "Is it save now?" he asked followed by Hardison, Parker and the little girl that turned their lives upside down.

Sophie gasped when she saw her, bringing her hand to her mouth. She had only held her for less than a minute after she had given birth to her, knowing that if she had stayed more in her arms, she wouldn't have had the courage to give her up. She couldn't believe it that that little girl was now standing in front of her.

"From the tears and the shock I guess you're my real mom" Amy sat down on a chair. She was trying to act brave, putting up a strong appearance.

Sophie quietly nodded.

"So you two know each other and you" she pointed at Nate "never knew about me"

The mastermind sighed "It's a long story." He scratched the back of his head. "I think we all have long stories to tell" He turned towards the three younger members of the team. "Guys, could you…"

"… leave the three of you work things out?" Hardison finished off for him. "Sure"

"But I want to stay and see how it finishes!" Parker complained. "We could make pop-corn!"

"Parker!" Eliot grunted. "It's not a film or a play. Let's leave them alone" he gave a firm nod to the mastermind and a more encouraging look to Sophie. He knew she was going to be considered the bad guy of all this situation, by both of them, and he wanted to let her know that she had friend in him if she needed one. "See you tomorrow morning"

And the three of them walked out leaving the apartment in an awkward silence.

"So…" Nate really needed a drink. Why did he quit drinking?

"Why did you give me up?" was Amy's first question to her birth mother. She was angry now, but tears started filling her eyes too. She had thought of this moment for a long time and she had trained herself not to lose control when she was going to find herself in the situation. But she was just seven years old and there was so much a child could take. "Why didn't you want me?" she was sobbing now.

"Oh baby" Sophie rushed to her and kneeled in front of her chair taking her hands in hers. She was crying too seeing the hurt she has caused her little girl. "It was… it was complicated. I knew I couldn't give you the life you deserved, a secure family, stability… my life was… still is a mess. You deserved better"

"Well, your plan certainly went wrong" she pushed her away and got up angrily. If only they knew. If they knew what she had been through.  
Nate saw how Sophie was hurting. It wasn't easy to be rejected by your own child, but he couldn't give her comfort now, not while he was still angry with her.

"Sophie told me you had been adopted by a great family" Nate tried to intervene. "Two lovingly parents. What happened?"

"My parents died in a car accident when I was three years old." Amy looked down "I never knew they weren't my real parents, not until I saw my birth certificate a month ago and saw your name." She looked up locking her eyes with Nate. "So then I tried to find you. I did some research and found out you lived in Boston. So I left L.A. and came looking for you."

"All by yourself?" Sophie exclaimed.

"Not a big deal" She just shrugged. "I had some money and I bought a train ticket. It's funny how nobody asks why you're alone if you pretend you're with other adults."

Nate smirked. Yes, she was definitely Sophie's daughter.

"That was really smart. Hardison always makes sure nobody can find us. It mustn't have been easy to find where I was"

"Why? Are you wanted by the police or something?" she frowned.

Nate laughed. "Or something."

Sophie felt a bit like an intruder. She was happy that Amy was opening up with one of them, but she couldn't help to feel a bit jealous that it was with Nate.

"So," Amy turned to her. "What's your name? You left it blank in the birth certificate."

Of course she had because she didn't know what name to use. Her real name? An alias? A false name? "You can call me Sophie" she simply answered with a small smile.

"But that's not your real name" the little girl commented.

"Don't feel bad about it" Nate laid a hand on her shoulder. "Even I don't know her real name and I've known her for more than ten years now."

"I've noticed how you've kept it vague there" Sophie smirked at him hands on her hips "still can't remember when we met?" she arched her eyebrow.

"I thought we've agreed to disagree"

"Hmm…"

Amy observed their interaction. She could see that they were friends with each other, but she didn't think they were a couple. She wondered what had happened between them and if they were ever going to tell her.

"No one adopted you after the accident?" Nate asked curiously.

The seven years old shook her head. "No one came for me after the accident. No one wants…" she stopped knowing she was saying too much. "Nothing" she hid her face behind her long dark hair.

Sophie and Nate exchanged a concern look. The girl was hiding something from them. Something big.

"So, you've been in the system since then?" Sophie tried to get more information.

"Yeah, I've been in a couple of nice families. I was staying in a foster home, before…"

"… before running away."

She nodded scared. Were they going to take her back to L.A.?

"Don't worry" Sophie smiled like she could read her thoughts. "We're not taking you back." She patted her hand in reassurance and she was glad the girl didn't take her hand away.

"We can talk about what to do in long terms tomorrow." Nate told them. "It's getting late and I'm sure you're tired from all the travelling" he smiled. "I don't have a spare bedroom, but you can sleep in my bed tonight and I'll take the couch."

The girl gave him a small smile and nodded. She picked up her bag and started walking up the stairs.

"There's a bathroom on the right. Shout if you need anything"

"Thanks" she muttered.

Sophie and Nate watched her disappear after she took the top step.

"Shouldn't we help her or something?" Sophie turned towards the mastermind.

"She will tell us if she needs anything, but I'm pretty sure she is very mature for her age" he sighed and went to the fridge to get something to drink.

Sophie kept her eyes on him, she was sure that if he could, he wouldn't have minded a glass of whiskey at the moment. She sat next to him and poured herself a glass of orange juice. "What are we going to do?"

"I'm not going to abandon my child," he told her without hesitation. "not after she went through God knows what to find me. We can work something out. She can start going to school and she could stay with you, couldn't she? You have two bedrooms"

Sophie sighed. "I don't think she's going to agree with that. If you haven't noticed, I'm not her favourite person."

"She will come around"

She popped her head on her hand and turned towards him. "I'm always going to be the one that abandoned her at birth. Her mother that didn't want her"

"Sophie, she will forgive you, give her time"

"And you?" she whispered averting her eyes. "Will you forgive me?" She was afraid of his answer.

He sighed and took his time answering her "I understand why you made that decision, Sophie. I…" he paused. "I wish things would have gone differently."

She tried to keep her tears at bay. "I know" she whispered back. "Me too."

"She's keeping something from us"

"Yeah," she nodded. "And I'm scared to find out what"

The two adult didn't notice the girl curled up on the top of the stairs eavesdropping. What was she going to do if they were to find out the real reason she had run away?

The next morning Nate woke up with a terrible backache after spending the night sleeping on the couch. He groaned as he stretched his arms over his head trying to loosen the aching muscles.

"I'm too old for this" he mumbled and he slowly stood up. If this was going to be something that was going to occur, he might need to consider investing on a new couch or maybe on a new place where Amy could have her own room.

He quietly made his way upstairs to check on his daughter. He still couldn't believe it and the world felt strange in his mind.  
Amy was still sound asleep in his big bed. She was curled up, her knees nearly touching her chin, making her seem even smaller that she was. During the night some of the covers had fallen over and Nate picked them up and covered her again and he tucker her in smiling. He quietly made his outside carefully closing the door behind him.

When he got back downstairs he found Sophie in his kitchen making herself some tea.

"Hey," he joined her behind the counter and put on the pot for some coffee.

" 'morning" she greeted him. "How is she?"

"She's still asleep." He answered while opening the cupboards to get the ingredients to make some pancakes for breakfast. He winced when he bent down to get the frying pan from the bottom shelf.

Sophie noticed his grimace. "What's wrong?"

"The couch is not very comfy to sleep on" he massaged the back of his neck "I definitely need to find a new solution" he jumped startled when he suddenly felt Sophie's hand on him.

"Or you're simply getting older." She teased "Remember when we had to sleep in that barn in Ukraine" she kept working on his knotted muscles "That was certainly worse"

He chuckled. "I remember finding hay in all sorts of places for days"

"Well if only you hadn't ruined my plan"

"I still think we should have gone with mine"

She rolled her eyes and stopped massaging him and she leaned against the counter. "Amy would have been two years old" she sighed. "I still can't believe it that nothing happened between us that night. "

He leaned beside her. "I don't know. I told you when I saw you in Tuscany and you never mentioned our night together in Paris, I didn't know where we stood. We both went on like nothing happened."

"It was raining" she remembered "Our clothes were completely drenched . I was practically half-naked" she shouted the last part. "and you didn't make a move, Nate"

"Neither did you" he defended himself.

"I just…" she sighed. "I can't believe it than in 8 years we only had one night"

"Just enough to create a child" he joked. Then he got serious. "What do you want me to say, Sophie? What do you want from me?"

"I've already told you a year ago. Are you willing to fight for us?" she looked into his eyes.

"I'm not the one with a boyfriend." He reminded her. The sore subject between that they never talked about.

"If I knew there was an alternative…"

Before he had the chance to answer the front door opened.

"Hey Mama and Papa" Hardison smirked as he walked in followed by Eliot and Parker.

"Do you three organize getting here? How come you always arrive together?"

The hacker shrugged. "Meet at Nate's place at 8" He opened the fridge and got a bottle of orange juice. "Haven't you ever notice?"

"Is everything okay?" Eliot asked, his eyes landing on the grifter. He could sense that they had inadvertently interrupted another moment between Sophie and the mastermind.

"Sure" she nodded. Her gaze still on Nate, but she noticed that he was doing everything in his power to avoid his eyes. She sighed resigned.  
She lost him again.

"Where's the girl?" Parker asked, a bowl of cereals already in her hands. "You didn't send her away, did you?" her voice accusing.

"Of course not, Parker! She's our daughter" Nate exclaimed back. "She's still sleeping upstairs, so all three of you" he pointed a finger at them. "Keep it down!"

"I'm going to make breakfast" Eliot took Nate's place and the mastermind felt like he had been kicked out from in his own kitchen.

"Hardison" he decided he could use the opportunity. "I need you to find everything you can about Amy"

The young man looked confused. "Didn't Sophie tell you everything?"

"I mean what happened to her after her adoptive parents died in the car crash. She's hiding something from us and I'd like to be prepared."

"And of course just asking her would mean dong the normal thing" that comment earned him one of Nate's famous glare. Hardison lifted his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, one detailed research coming up, but it's going to take at least 24 hours"

Just before Eliot was about to put the pancakes on the table, Ay timidly walked down the stairs.

"Good morning" she said to everyone rubbing her eye with her fist.

"Hey!" Nate smiled at her. "Take a place at the table, there's pancakes for everyone" he took a seat a Amy sat next to him. Sophie took the place on her left and they all ate together.

"Hmm… Nate?" Hardison said between bites. "What are we going to do about our client meeting?"

"When's that? Early this evening?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be there" he nodded.

"Client?" Amy asked. "What are lawyers? PIs?" she was curious about them.

"Something like that" Nate kept it vague.

"We're thieves" Parker exclaimed.

"Parker!" Eliot shook his head.

"Thieves? Like you steal things?" Amy eyes grew in size.

"Not really," Nate scratched the back of his head nervously. "We help people. People who have been ripped off and the police can't help or don't care"

"Like Robin Hood!" she exclaimed happily.

Sophie chuckled. "I can't really see Nate in green tights," she eyed the mastermind with a mischief look "but yeah, the idea is that" she laid a hand on her daughter shoulder.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Nate asked the girl.

She shrugged "I don't know" she looked down at her now empty plate. She was afraid to tell them she would love to spend the day with her parents.

"How about you get ready and then we can go to the park" Nate suggested.

Amy nodded and quickly got up to rush to the stairs.

"And we can also go to the mall" Sophie told her before she disappeared. "Go shopping and buy new clothes"  
Amy nodded again and ran up the stairs.

"Shopping?" Nate raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?"  
-.-.-.  
"Are you coming?" Sophie glared over her shoulder. "You two are so slow" she marched ahead when something caught her attention.

"She's like possessed!" Amy whispered to Nate looking at the woman like she were crazy.

Nate had his hands full of carrier bags. Sophie had been dragging from shop to shop for over two hours. After they had spent an hour at the park where Amy had played on a swing and slide, Sophie told him that they should really go shopping because he couldn't have his daughter going around without some proper clothes. "Welcome to my world." He whispered back. "She always makes me go shopping with her when she wants to punish me."

They saw Sophie disappear inside a shoe shop so they sat on the first available bench sighing in relief. Nate's feet were hurting and he his  
backache was coming back. "Well, I'm glad you haven't inherited your Mum's shopping gene" he chuckled.

Amy looked down at her feet. "Do I look like any of you?" she suddenly asked.

"Huh…" Nate was a little surprised at her question. "We haven't really got to know each other but I can see you've got Sophie's ability to make people do whatever you want" he smiled knowing that her was going to be in trouble with both his girls playing him. "You're smart. You got that from me" they both laughed. "Okay, from both of us." He paused and his expression changed. "You've got my same blue eyes. It's the first thing I thought when I saw you: She's got Sam's eyes"

She frowned "Who is Sam?"

Nate's head snapped up. "I…"

"I'm back!" Sophie stood in front of them a big grin on her face.

Nate was grateful for the interruption while Amy was curious. Who was Sam?

"I thought the all point was to come and shop for Amy not adding another pair of shoes to your endless collection" he pointed how with a fake glare.

"Have you seen them, Nate?" she opened the box to show him her newest purchase. " 50% off, I just had to buy them"

"And they say I'm the one with an addiction" he muttered under his breath hoping he hadn't heard her.

Sophie gave him a small punch on his arm. "I don't have an addition!"

"Having more than one hundred pair of shoes is called addition"

"Addition means you addicted to it, that you can't stop. I'm able to not buy shoes, if I want"

"Really?" he asked amused, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes" she knew she was sounding like a petulant child, but it didn't matter.

He smirked "Let's bet then. Stay without buying shoe for a month."

"A month? You know sales start in a week!"

"A month without buying shoes then I'll stop complaining about you invading my closet"

She looked doubtful, but she couldn't let him win. "Okay, deal"

"When can we have lunch?" Amy interrupted their glaring contest. "I'm kind of hungry"

Nate and Sophie turned their heads towards Amy. "Of course" Nate coughed nervously embarrassed by being catch by his daughter flirting or whatever they could call it with Sophie. He got up and put an arm around the girl's shoulder. "What would you like?" they walked towards the food area in the mall.

Sophie didn't really look impressed by all the fast food stands. "are you sure there isn't a restaurant nearby? You know, somewhere they make healthy food."

Nate rolled her eyes at her. "A hamburger and French fries every now and again won't kill you, Sophie"

She grunted but followed Nate and Am who were already queuing at one of the fast food stands. They all ordered burgers with fries, Sophie managed to get a salad, and a chocolate milkshakes. Soon they were sitting at a table, munching their food.

"We've bought some clothes and some bed linen for your bedroom, anything else you would like?" Sophie asked the girl while stealing one of Nate's chip from his plate.

Amy shrugged and kept eating her hamburger.

"Have you got any hobbies?" Nate tried to make her talk. "Anything you're interested in?"

"I don't know. I like drawing and playing soccer"

"Soccer?" Nate looked at her interested.

"Some girls played at the park near I lived and would watch them play and I get to join them sometime"

"Well, it's not baseball but I guess I could start learning about soccer" he smiled.

"You know the correct term is football" Sophie intervened.

Nate rolled his eyes and tilted his head towards his daughter. "British!" making the girl giggle. "Ouch!" he winced when Sophie lightly kicked him under the table.

"We've invented it and then you lot had to change it to American Football" she aired quote the last quotes. "And I could teach about soccer if you'd like"

"You? Watching sport?"

She looked offended. "I know my sport: tennis, golf, cricket…"

"Cricket?" he smirked. "You mean the longer and more boring version of baseball?" he liked teasing her, making her squirm. It was this new and more comfortable development they've found between them.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that comment" she playfully glared at him knowing exactly what we was doing.

"Oh, I can't wait Miss Devereaux" his eyes mischievous.

Amy observed them in amusement. She could see that they really liked each other and wondered why they weren't together.

"Well back to us. If you want anything else. Books, videogames, dolls or a soccer ball we can get it." She looked at Nate smiling. "Your father is buying"

"Of course I am" he glared at her.

Another two hours later they were finally at Sophie's apartment. Nate collapsed on Sophie's couch after putting all the carrier bags in Amy's room. "Remind me never to go shopping with you again" he sighed exhausted.

The grifter chuckled and bought him a glass of water.

"Thanks" he took a large sip as she sat next to him.

"Do you think I'll be able to manage tonight?" she suddenly asked pensive.

"It will be fine. I'm just a phone call away if you need help, but she needs to stay here. You two need to connect."

" I know, it's just… " she sighed. "I'm not good with kids, never were."

"She's not just a kid, she's your daughter." He reminded her. "We decided to make this work. I need to start looking for a new place too. Or maybe ask Hardison if I can buy the apartment next to mine and make it bigger"

"A new place might be a better idea. I don't really like the idea of Amy staying above a bar and at our place of work. Too many people could find us"

He smiled. "See, you're already thinking like an apprehensive Mum" he patted her leg and they both looked down at his hand. He coughed and soon retreat him hand, his face blushing.

Amy walked back into the room.

"Do you like the room?" Sophie asked. Her leg still warm where Nate had touched her.

She nodded. "Yeah, but it needs a child touch" she smiled and sat on one of the armchairs.

"You're right" Sophie smiled back.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Who can it be?" Sophie asked out loud as she went to open the door. "James!" she exclaimed when she saw who it was.

"Katherine, there you are" the man said back walking inside the apartment. He looked curiously at the man and girl already in the sitting room, but he didn't comment and turned towards his girlfriend. "I haven't heard from you since you've disappeared last night saying you had an emergency. Then you haven't be answering my calls all day, I was worried." He put an arm around her.

Sophie was looking at all the people in the room embarrassed. She could feel Nate's eyes on them and he was making her uncomfortable.  
"it's complicated." She really didn't want to have this conversation with an audience.

"Why don't Amy and I go and get dinner?" Nate got up and walked passed them, his arm brushing Sophie's.

"Yeah, I'll see you later" Sophie rushed the mastermind and daughter outside. Once they were gone she closed the door sighing. It was time to end things. "Listen James…" she turned around with a sad expression. He really was a nice guy, but he wasn't the guy for her.

"You're breaking up with me" he soon understood.

"It's… there's a lot going on"

"Who were that man and girl?"

"Oh, I wish I could tell you and give you an explanation. It's just that now I need to focus on other things, on other responsibilities"

"And I'm not included in them" he fished for her. "It's okay, I understand. I've always knew that there was a part of you that you were not comfortable on sharing"

She looked down avoiding his eyes. Sometimes it was hard being a grifter.

"Well, I guess I should leave now"

She nodded. "Take care, James" she sadly smiled at him.

"You too" he gave her one last kiss on the cheek before leaving her alone.

Sophie felt bad about the break up, mostly because she was a good man but her heart belong to somebody else and now she had to work on building her family.  
-.-.-.-  
The man peaked around the corner and saw a tall brown haired man exiting the building with the girl. They were laughing at something as they walked down the street.

"There you are, you little brat. I've found you!" he put out the cigarette he had been smoking and gave one last glare at the girl that ruined his life. He had some planning to do.  
-.-.-.-.  
"I really need to go now" Nate got up from his chair and put his jacket on.  
After they had returned with Chinese takeaway, Nate, Sophie and Amy sat at the kitchen table and for the first time in felt like they were a real family. Nate and Amy had told Sophie about the strange couple who had been queuing at the Chinese place and they all laughed. Nate and Sophie both tried to explain what they did when the girl had started asking questions and Nate had also brought up the school issue which had been me with a complain groan from the seven years old.

"Amy" Sophie nervously looked at the girl. "Why don't you start getting ready for bed and put you pajamas on? We can have a girls only PJ's party"

The girl nodded knowing that the adults wanted to talk in private. She was really tempted to eavesdrop, but Sophie's loft apartment left her with little choice for a good hiding place.

Once the girl had gone to her room, Sophie anxiously looked at Nate. She couldn't stay still as she ran her through her hands.

Nate smirked, recognizing the signs of her nervousness. "It's going to be okay, Sophie" she reassured her.

"I know" she exclaimed a bit too quickly, embarrassed to let him see her so vulnerable. "You're just a phone call away anyway, right?"

He nodded. "But you won't need it. Have Fun! Watch a movie, play something, try to be a friend remembering that you're still her mother. Gain her trust, but also establish your roles in the relationship… you've done this loads of times."

"I don't want to treat her like a mark, Nate" she soon replied defensively. "I…"

He put his hands on her shoulders "I'm not saying that... for the first time in your life I'm asking you to be yourself"

"What if I can't?" she sighed on the verge of crying. "It's been so long that I don't know if I can be me, just me again."

"If we can't be honest with our children, the who else?" he smiled. "I know you can do it" Then he did something that caught them both by surprise. He leaned down and planted a small and comforting kiss on her forehead.

Suddenly realizing what he had done, Nate jumped away from her putting distance between them. "Huh.. well… I'll just say goodnight to…"

"Nate" she stopped him. "I've ended it with James."

He shook his head. "It's not my place…"

"Yes, it is." She paused "I'm done waiting" her words took them back to a conversation they had more than a year before.

Nate heart dropped to his stomach. He felt like she had just punched him in his guts. Does this mean she has given up on him? Did he really take too long?

"I'm not just going to stay here waiting for your move. I want us to be together. I want us to build a family."

"Soph…" how could he tell her that he wanted that too?

"No" she interrupted him going closer to him. "you don't need to answer now" she smiled. "I'm just giving you heads up. You know I can be really persuasive." She teasingly ran a hand down his chest and she felt satisfied when she saw him gulp.

They heard movement coming from the corridor and they both took a step back, acting like nothing had happened.

"I'm ready" Amy exclaimed walking back into the room. "Got washed, brushed my teeth." Her new red Disney pajamas fitted her perfectly.

"That's good" Nate smiled at her. "Well, have fun you two. But not too much, remember we're going to look at some schools tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah" Amy rolled her eyes at him playfully.

Nate didn't know what to do. He wanted to kiss his daughter goodnight, but he didn't know if she was ready for it. Fortunately she solved his dilemma for him when she wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a hug. After the initial surprised, Nate smiled and hug her back, his emotions written all over his face. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"Goodnight and sweet dreams" he whispered.

When she let go of him, he opened the front door. He spared a final glance to Sophie. Her words still lingered in the air, he could see her love in her eyes. As much as he wanted to grab her and kiss her senselessly, he knew he couldn't so he just gave her a timid wave.

"Bye"

"Goodnight, Nate" she smiled.

Mother and daughter were for the first time alone together and they didn't know what to do. Amy still didn't know if she could trust the woman that had abandoned her and that lied to her father.

Sophie could still sense the resentment coming from the girl. She took a deep breath –Be yourself- Nate had told her.

"So, what would you like to do?" she asked the girl. "We've still got a couple of hours before bedtime"

Amy shrugged. "I don't know"

"How about a movie?" Sophie suggested. "Let's see what's on. But first…" she smiled. "… I need to put my pajamas or I won't be dressed properly for our party"

They settled on the couch under a cover with a bowl of popcorn between them. Amy had found the cartoon movie "Brave" which she still hadn't seen. They didn't expected to be centered on a mother/daughter relationship and they both squirmed uncomfortably at the emotional scenes.

"Well" Sophie acclaimed at the end of the film. "That was good. Parker is always trying to make us watch cartoon films on movie night. I think she does it to annoy Eliot." She chuckled "Just like Hardison chooses sci-fi and horror films to annoy everybody else."

"They all seemed nice when they took me for that ice-cream, even though Parker is a bit strange, but she's nice and funny"

Sophie nodded "Yeah, she had a difficult childhood. She was in foster care too and she started stealing at a very young age. She is the best, though" she told her with a proud voice. Realizing how it may have sounded she soon trying to correct herself. "Not that stealing is good. It's very bad" she told her not very convinced, but if only Nate knew that she was encouraging their daughter to follow their path, he would kill her. "Your father doesn't need to know about this"

Amy laughed. "Why is he involved with all of you if he's not a thief?"

Sophie sighed. "Long story" which wasn't hers to tell, but she knew that Nate was never going to open up about his past with their girl.

Amy paused, hesitant to ask her next question. "Who is Sam?" she finally found the courage.

"What?" she gasped surprised.

"This morning Nate said that I had Sam's same eyes." She continued.

"He…" Sophie didn't know if she should tell her, but she knew they had to build their relationship from somewhere. "He was Nate's son"

"I have a brother" the girl nearly exclaimed excitedly.

"Not really. Nate was married before. To another woman. Together they had a son: Sam"

Ay noticed she was talking about him in the past and swallowed hard. "What happened?"

"He got sick, really sick" Sophie had trouble talking. She had never met the boy, but she remembered the photos Nate had showed her and that little boy who had been running in the park laughing and screaming delight. " Cancer. He died nearly three years ago. Nate took it really bad. He lost everything and he took him a long time to build his life back."

"That's a sad story" Amy whispered wanting to cry for her brother that she had never got the chance to meet.

"Yeah" Sophie could see that the girl was barely keeping together so she put a comforting hand around her shoulders and after a moment of hesitation, Amy curled up against her side for the first seeking comfort from her mother.

"Your father is a really good man, but sometimes a tragedy like this can you leave broken." She paused. "But I think you coming suddenly in our lives can help him being whole again" she smiled down at her. Sophie noticed that the girl was sleepy. "Well, it's time for bed" They let go of each other and got up.

Amy didn't want to go to sleep, she wanted to learn more about her parents, but her body was betraying her "Okay"

"How about I tell you how your father and I met until you fall asleep?"

Amy nodded eagerly and rushed to her room, quickly getting under the covers.

The next morning Sophie woke up with the sound of her alarm clock going off. She quickly switched off the annoying the beeping. She didn't like getting up early, but she wanted to try and make breakfast for her daughter's first day at her new home.

She slowly got up and took a shower, hoping that the water would wake her up. After drying her hair and getting dressed, she walked to her kitchen. She wasn't a good cook like Eliot or Nate, but she could make some toast and serve cereals. When she was done, she looked at the time and decided it was time to wake Amy up. Nate was going to be there soon.

"Amy" she knocked at her door. When she didn't get an answer, she slowly opened the door. "Amy, it's time to get up."

She frowned when she saw the empty bed. She wondered if the girl had gone to the bathroom without her noticing it.

"Amy" she knocked at the bathroom door. Nothing. The bathroom was empty.

Sophie started panicking. She was gone. Her daughter was gone. She quickly called the only person she wanted to hear.

"Sophie?"

"Nate" he soon heard her distress in her voice "She's gone. Our little girl is gone"


	3. Chapter 3

He had returned to the building after getting his van. He parked on the other side of the street where he had a good view and without catching anyone’s attention and then he waited. It was gone 8 o’clock when he saw the previous brown haired man walking out of the building, getting inside a car and drive away. That had left the woman and the girl alone at home. He had figured out where they were staying: on the last floor.

So she has money – he thought smirking.

And for a moment he wondered about changing his plans. Whoever those two people were, they might pay a lot of money to have the girl back. No, this was his revenge plan, but maybe getting some money out of it wasn’t such a bad idea.

More than two hours later, he saw all the lights go out. He waited another hour before going into action, he wanted to make sure both occupants were deep asleep. After getting some things that he knew he was going to need from the back of his van, he walked inside the building and made his way upstairs. Once he arrived at the front door, he checked for security. Pad lock alarm. He wasn’t stupid, he knew it wasn’t going to be easy to overpass the code and if he tried and fail, he wasn’t going to have the police surrounding the building in no time. He needed another point of entrance. He looked around and saw the emergency exist leading to the roof. He smirked and went through the door He soon found the perfect spot. The windows weren’t too far down. He open his black bag and pulled out a rope and an harness. He checked he had secure on end on to a pipe and then climb down the edge. The first window he looked through, he saw a beautiful dark haired woman sleeping peacefully on a large bed. He moved towards a smaller open window: the bathroom window, no one ever thinks about closing those. He managed to get inside the apartment without making any noise. He quietly walked down the corridor and saw a closed door. Gently her pushed the handle and peaked inside. There she was.

He walked inside and stood over the bed. This little girl had caused him so many troubles. He slowly leaned over hoping she wouldn’t wake up, he didn’t want her to scream. He put a hand over her mouth and she sat up, eyes wide open. Once she recognized who it was the dark figure over her, her eyes panicked and she tried to scream through the hand, but she couldn’t.

“Hello Amy” she heard him say in a dark voice, before losing consciousness.

Amy woke up in a dark room that was definitely not the one she had been when she had fallen asleep hours before. She winced when she moved her head. She had a terrible headache. She looked around try to discover were she was. Soon it all came back to her. She had hoped it had all been a nightmare. She heard the door opened and someone stepped inside.

“Travis” she whispered scared.

“Oh, I see you’re awake.” He grinned, but he certainly didn’t have good intentions. “Good, that mean I don’t have to wait to get what’s mine!”

“I…” she gasped.

“Where is my stuff, you little brat?” he shouted.

“I…” she was too scared to answer. Travis had always had a violent temper, but he had never hit her. He knew better not to leave marks for the social worker to see. He had always saved his punches for Carol, her foster Mum. “I don’t have it anymore”

“Where is it?” he barked, grabbing her arm and forcing her out of the chair. “I need the antique box you stole from me”

“I sold everything at the local pawn shop. I need money to buy a train ticket.”

She soon felt the sting on her left cheek where the man had slapped her. She tried not to cry in front of him.

“Stupid little girl!” he shouted. “It wasn’t just an antique box. There were drugs inside and now some really bad people won’t my head because they think I’ve stole from them.”

He started pacing up and down the room, running his hands through his hair in frustration. He was a dead man. A desperate man. “What am I going to do?” he muttered. Then he suddenly lifter his head. He remember his previous plan.

“Who were those people I saw you with?” he demanded.

She blinked. “Those were my parents. My real parents”

“So, you’ve managed to find Mummy and daddy. I wonder how much they’ll pay to have you back”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Nate rushed into Sophie’s loft.

“Sophie” he shouted, but received no answer. He adventured further inside. “Sophie” he suddenly stopped when he saw the woman sitting on the floor, her arms holding tightly to a stuffed animal that they had bought the day before.

“Soph…” he whispered while kneeling down in front of her.

The grifter slowly lifter her head up and Nate could see her red eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks. “What happened?” he gently cupped her left cheek.

“She’s gone, Nate” she sobbed. “She…” she took a deep breath. “I went to wake her up for breakfast, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.”

“Okay” he got up and looked around his daughter room. “She hasn’t run away.” He muttered.

“How do you know? Maybe I’m such a terrible mother that she couldn’t wait a day to run away from me”

“No, no…” he shook his head. “Her clothes and bag are still here” he started thinking out loud.

Sophie mentally kicked herself. In her panicking she didn’t look for details. She got up and followed the mastermind’s train of thoughts.

“And I’ve also had to put the alarm code to come inside” Nate continued. “No, something happened” he walked out and went into the bathroom. “The bathroom window is open.” He examined. “and they are signs of someone crawling through it.” He put his head outside and looked up. “They came down from the roof”

“She’s been kidnapped?” she gasped. She didn’t know what was worse, her daughter running away or Amy being in danger.

He nodded. He took his phone out and speed dialed his team. “Eliot, call the others. We’ve got an emergency. Come to Sophie’s house” He close the call, no other words were needed.

“Nate…” He could see that Sophie was barely keeping it together.

“It’s going to be okay” he put his arms around her and brought her body close to his. “We’ll find her.” He muttered in her hair as she clung to him desperately.

“It’s all my fault” she said, her words muffled into his chest.

“It’s not, Sophie, don’t blame yourself for something you had control over. We didn’t know that something like this was going to happen.” He gently stepped back to look at her. “If you’re to blame, so am I. I knew that she wasn’t telling us everything, but I let it slide for now, instead of insisting.”

“But it happened while she was under my supervision”

“It could have easily happened at my place.” He reassured. “Let’s not think about it. The only thing that matters now, it’s finding our daughter and bringing her safely back to us. Okay?”

She quietly nodded.

He leaned his forehead against hers and he kissed her, a sweet, delicate kiss to give her the strength to get through this.

Before she got the chance to come out from her shock and deepen the unexpected kiss, there was a knock at the door. Reluctantly they let go of each other and Nate went to open the door.

“What’s wrong?” Eliot stormed in followed by Hardison and Parker.

“Someone kidnapped Amy” Nate told them closing the door. His first instinct was to get in his car and find his daughter and make whoever took her pay for it, but they needed a plan. They needed to know who they were up against with.

“Wait? What?” Parker exclaimed worried.

“I’m afraid to ask…” Eliot frowned. “but are you sure she hasn’t simply run away… she’s not exactly…”

“We’ve checked. Her things are still here and they are signs of someone entering through the bathroom window” Nate interrupted him.

“Okay” Hardison put his laptop on the kitchen table and sat down. “ I can access all surveillance cameras from last night around this area and see what we got” he started tying.

“We went to bed at about half past ten…” Sophie tried to help giving him a time frame.

“If he were a professional, he would have waited about an hour before going inside” Eliot added. “to make sure that they had fallen asleep.”

“Got it” Hardison exclaimed. They saw a man entering the building at half past eleven and then coming down with Amy on his shoulder passed midnight. Sophie’s street wasn’t really busy, so nobody saw anything. Then they saw him opening the back of a van and throwing the girl inside. Sophie hissed at the image. The next thing they saw was the van taking off.

“Can you see the plate numbers?” Nate asked from over the hacker’s shoulder.

“Sorry man, I can’t get a clear image.” Hardison shook his head. “But” he re-winded the feed. “I think I can get an image of the guy” The others waited patiently as he worked in getting an ID on the man. “Got it” he exclaimed. “Wow, I got a hit on my computer.”

“What does it mean?” Nate asked.

“It means that I’ve already did a research on this guy, when you asked me to check on your daughter’s past.” He answered with a solemn gaze.

“Who is he?”

“His name is Travis Black, he is… or was… or…”

“Cut the chase, Hardison” Eliot hissed.

“Well, he’s Amy’s foster dad. I guess, he still is since she technically ran away from their house”

“Why would he kidnap our daughter?” Sophie demanded. “Why follow her here?”

“I don’t know…” Nate mused “but he’s not going to get away with it”

“Well, I did make that research you‘ve asked me and…” he paused “here’s what I’ve found” he showed them Amy’s file.

Sophie and Nate read Amy’s carefully, suddenly Sophie gasped. “Oh, my poor baby”

Amy had been in the car with her adoptive parents when they had the car accident. The same accident that had killed them. She had been injured too. She had a couple of heart surgery and by the time she was in full health again, no one had wanted to adopt her. That’s when she entered the foster system care. The last family she had been staying with were the Blacks.

“I don’t know who checks out these families, but this guy is a right mess. He’s wanted in Texas with another name for trafficking. He seems troubling.”

“He is” Nate agreed.

“Foster families aren’t always good” Parker commented having had bad experiences too. “But some are nice”

“Can you see where the van stopped?” Eliot asked Hardison.

“No, I’ve lost him when he went to a part of town without surveillance or traffic cameras. This is the last known location”

“This is…” Sophie exclaimed frustrated. “This is pointless . For all we know, they’re already on their way to L.A.”

“Sophie, I’ve told you we will get her back and we will” he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

In that moment Nate’s phone began to rang. It was an unknown number.

“Hello” he answered.

“Dad” he heard a fainted voice. “Daddy”

“Amy” he shouted. “Amy, where…”

“Not so fast Mister Ford” an amused man’s voice interrupted him. “Before you can see your daughter again I need you to do something for me”

“What do you want?” he barked.

“Oh, just a quarter of a million dollars in small notes. Let’s see how much you care for your daughter”

“If you…”

“Ah, ah. I don’t think you are in any position to make threats. You’ve got two hours to gather the money. I don’t care if you’re rich or if you have to rob a bank to get them. I’ll then text you the address where to deliver them. Two hours or I’ll… well I don’t need to finish the phrase, do I?” and he terminated the call.

“Hardison?”

“Sorry man and didn’t have time to trace to call”

Everyone stayed in silence.

“Now what do we do?” Parker suddenly asked.

Nate was angry, his eyes a shade of dark blue. “Now, we do our job. We make the bad guy pay.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sophie pressed her hands down covering the expanding crimson stain on the white shirt. Her hands were soon covered in blood, but she didn’t care, she needed to stop it. She needed…

“Eliot” she called in pain. “I need help”

One hour before…

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Sophie asked nervously as she watched Nate zip the duffle bag closed. The money was safely tucked inside, it hadn’t been difficult to put the sum together, they all had a secret stash for emergencies.

“It has to work” he answered picking up the bag. “Has anyone of my plans ever failed?” he replied humoring her.

She eyed him with her eyebrow raised. “Do you I really need to answer that?” she knew he was trying to relax her and she was grateful for that, but it didn’t help with the bad feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.

“Everything is set up” Hardison suddenly exclaimed from his position. They all put their ear buds and got ready.

“Let’s go!” Nate finally announced opening the door of his apartment.

The warehouse where Travis Black had set the exchange wasn’t so far. They had all the time for Eliot and Parker to hide and assess the situation. They arrived with both the van and a car. Hardison was monitoring all frequencies from the van hidden behind a second building while Nate and Sophie were sitting in the car waiting for Black to show up.

“You know we can just give him the money and let him go” Sophie said turning her head towards Nate.

“He’s not going to leave us alone. He will ask for more money. I know his type.” Nate commented without taking his eyes off the warehouse. “Also, he’s not getting away for whatever he has done to our daughter.”

“Sometimes I hate your sense for revenge.” She muttered back.

This time he turned around to face her. “What’s your problem, Sophie?” he couldn’t understand why she had been so against his plan.

She shook her head. “I don’t know… I just have the…”

In that moment Travis van arrived and parked the vehicle right in front of the warehouse. The man got out and looked around.

“You stay in the car” Nate ordered Sophie while he got out, the duffle bag in his hand. He slowly approached the other man.

“Oh, it’s mister Daddy!” Travis grinned.

“Where’s Amy?” Nate shouted at him.

“She’s in the back of the van. Is that my money?” he pointed at the bag eagerly waiting for it.

“I want to see Amy first”

Travis gave him an evil smile. “You think you’re in charge here. Okay, I’ll humor you… for now” He opened the back door of the van. “Get out!” he ordered the girl.

Soon Amy scrambled outside. She still had her pajamas on and she was shivering form the cold weather. She had tried to stay strong, but now she was scared. She knew what Travis was capable of.

“Nate” she cried when she saw her father. She tried to go to him, put Travis grabbed her arm.

“No so fast, girl”

Nate’s fist tightened. He so wanted to punch the guy. “Amy, are you okay?” he asked gently.

The girl slowly nodded. “I want to go home” she sniffed.

“Soon, I promise” he smiled at her.

“Okay, enough with the family reunion. I want my money!” Black shouted.

Nate glared at him, but then he threw the bag at the man’s feet. Travis kneeled down to open the bag with one hand while he the other was still around Amy’s arm. He smiled when he saw the bills. “I trust I don’t have to count these”

“You have our money… now let Amy go”

“You know… I’m quite impressed with the way you came with all this money so fast… I wonder if you have more… I mean, this will only get me out of trouble, why not have something for my… retirement.”

“That was not the deal!” Nate hissed angrily.

“Yes well…” the man shrugged. “The deal is off. I want another quarter of a million” he said taking a gun out from behind his back and pointing it first at Nate then at Amy “or she dies.”

“Nate, just give us the go!” the mastermind heard Eliot through comms. “I’m ready to break all the bones in his body”

Nate saw the hitter’s head peak from behind Travis’s van. Eliot had managed to get in position during Nate and Travis’s exchange.

“Not yet” he whispered. He didn’t want to take a risk while the man had a gun pointed out at his daughter.

“Hmm… guys…” they suddenly heard Hardison. “we have company.”

In that moment three cars came rushing towards them. The tires making loud noise on the ground lifting a veil of dirt and sand.

“Who is this?” Travis shouted “Did you call the police?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Nate was caught by surprise, this was definitely not in the plan.

Soon the men came out of the car and Travis panicked when he recognized who it was.

“Travis, my man!” a muscular tall tattooed man stepped closer to him. He had a thick Spanish accent and Eliot soon told them they were from a gang, probably a drug cartel.

“Julio” Travis stammered. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, one of my men just flees town without paying or give me the drugs back. Where else would I be?” He smirked sarcastically. “Are you enjoying Boston?”

“Nate, we need to get Amy away from there.” Sophie told him.

“I’m working on it” he knew the situation was about to escalate and he didn’t want Amy in the cross fire. “Look,” he approached the group trying to get closer to Amy. “I don’t know what the problem is here. I paid you and now I want my daughter back”

Suddenly six guns were pointed at him “Who are you?” the man called Julio shouted at him.

Nate put his hands up in surrender “I’m just a concerned father. Travis here kidnapped my daughter and demand money. I paid him and now I just want her back. We’ll just leave here and you can continue. I don’t want trouble, just go home”

Julio looked from Nate to Travis and finally he noticed the scared little girl. “So now you’re into kidnapping little innocent girls, Travis!” Julio pointed the gun at the man.

Travis finally let go of Amy’s arm and Nate slightly mentioned to her to walk backwards. Parker was waiting for her to take her away safely.

“Julio, it’s not like that” his voice trembled. “She was my foster child. It’s her fault your drugs went missing. Look” he dropped on his knees and opened the bag. “Here is your money. He is rich, we can ask for more. Just…” he turned around a saw that the girl was missing. “Where is she?” he shouted. “Where…” he turned angrily towards Nate. “You played me, you…”

That’s when the first shot rang out. Soon everyone was shooting at everything and nothing. Eliot jumped from behind his hiding place and started knocking the gang men down. Julio was the last one to go down, followed by Travis who had finished the bullets in his gun.

“Don’t you ever touch my niece!” Eliot exclaimed before punching the man so hard he fell on the floor hard.

Sophie had got out from her car and rushed towards Nate. The man was lying on the floor unconscious. She quickly saw the blood on his chest and tried to stop it.

“Eliot, I need help!” she got the hitter’s attention.

Once they were sure things were quiet, Parker and Amy came out.

“Daddy” the girl shouted when she saw her father bleeding. “Daddy” she whispered kneeled next to her mother.

“It’s going to be okay” Sophie tried to reassure her. “It’s alright”

“We need to take his to a hospital” Eliot told them.

“You guys can take the van while Parker and I stay here to deal with the police” Hardison took the FBI badges and jackets from the car. “They’ll be here soon.”

Eliot carefully lifted up the still unconscious mastermind and laid him in the back of the van’s floor. Sophie and Amy climbed right behind him.

“Be careful” he told the hacker and the thief before taking the driver’s seat.

The both nodded. “Just let us know how he’s doing”

They saw the black van drive off and soon after they heard the police sirens coming towards them. They hoped that the mastermind was going to make it through.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As soon as they arrived at the emergency entrance, Sophie opened the back door calling for help. The doctors and nurses on call rushed with a gurney and once Nate was secure on it, they pushed him inside the building taking his vitals and working on stopping the bleeding.

“His BP is low” one of the nurses shouted.

“He’s loss a lot of blood. Get me some 0 negative”

“I don’t see an exit wound. We need to take him into surgery before we lose him. Tell them to prepare an OR, immediately”

In that moment the monitor started beeping.

“He’s v-tach” one of the doctor screamed. “Charge the paddles.”

Sophie and Amy watched from the widow looking on the corridor. Amy held Sophie’s hand tight as the doctors where doing their best to save her father. Eliot arrived by their side and turned his head towards what held their full attention. He soon recognized what was happening and for a moment he felt his heart pang for his friend, but he knew he had to be strong for Sophie and Amy. That was what Nate needed from him now.

“Sophie,” he laid a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t think she needs to see this…” he titled his head towards the seven years old.

Sophie slowly nodded, tears in her eyes. She couldn’t believe that everything they went through, Nate might not make it. He might not be there to see their daughter become a young woman.

“Amy, we should…”

“No!” the girl protested “I’m not leaving him!” she pulled her hand away from Sophie’s.

They suddenly heard the door bang opened and saw the doctors running away pushing Nate’s gurney.

“What is happening?” Sophie stopped an intern.

“We are taking him into surgery” he exclaimed to her.

“But…”

“He is critical and has lost a lot of blood. The bullet probably made some damage, they will need to do an exploratory surgery. I can’t make any promises” He saw the distress in both the woman’s and girl’s eyes. He sighed. “But he is a fighter. I say there’s a chance he can pull it through” He saw that team was leaving without him. “I really…” and he ran towards the lift before the doors closed.

“There’s nothing we can really do now but wait” Eliot told them. “I’m going to check on Parker and Hardison, you should probably get cleaned up” he nodded to Sophie.

Sophie realized she still had Nate’s blood all over her hands and shirt. She looked at the scared girl next to her who she was still in her pajamas. “Eliot is right. We look like we came out of a horror movie” she tried to lightened the mood.

“But d…”

“It’s going to be a long time before we’ll hear some news. Come on” she put an arm around Amy’s shoulder. “Let’s find a bathroom and then a gift shop, they might have some clothes.”

They went inside the closest bathroom and while Amy used the toilet, Sophie stood in front of the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess and she had puffy and dark eyes from all the crying. Half a day had passed since she had discovered Amy missing from her bed, but it felt like a life time ago. She sighed and looked down at her hands. She suddenly felt nauseous. That was Nate blood, Nate could die and she couldn’t anything about it. She felt again tears in her he back of her eyes and she shook her head sending them away. She needed to be strong. Amy needed her.

She put her hands in the sink and the sensor detected her movements. Soon a stream of water came down from the tap and cascaded over her hands. She watched the water dripping from them change from bright red, to pink to finally being clear again. She kept scrubbing with soap until she felt clean again.

Amy was standing beside her watching her struggle. As much as she was upset from seeing her dad hurt, for Sophie was certainly worse since she had known him and even loved him longer.

“Are you okay?” she tentatively asked.

Sophie sniffed and put on a false smile. “Yeah, I’m alright. Let’s go and get some new clothes.”

They didn’t have a lot of choice in the gift shop, but the managed to find a t-shirt for Sophie and a track suit plus a pair of trainers for Amy. After they got changed, they went back to the waiting room where Eliot was and he told them there still wasn’t an news on Nate’s condition.

“Are you hungry?” Sophie asked the girl. “I bet you haven’t eaten since last night. Did he at least give you anything to drink?”

“Some water” she muttered back. “But yeah, I’m a bit hungry.” She admitted.

“Let’s go to the cafeteria then” she turned towards the hitter. “If…”

“If I have news, I’ll call ya” he interrupted her rolling his eyes.

After ordering a sandwich and a soda for Amy and a cup of tea for Sophie, they quietly sat at a far end table in the café.

“Can you tell me more stories about you and Nate?” Amy suddenly asked interrupting the uncomfortable silence between them.

“Huh?” she was caught by surprise by her daughter’s voice then she smiled remembering telling her how she and Nate had met just the night before. “What would you like to know?”

“You told me you saw each other in Prague, but you ran away before dad could catch you. What happened next?

“Your father ruined my plans of stealing stuff a couple times. We still hadn’t officially met, but he was already annoying and also at the same time it was challenging.” Her eyes sparkled and she had a big smile on her face. “Nobody was as good as Nathan Ford. He was the best. I once asked him why he had joined an insurance company. I mean, he is really smart, but don’t tell him I’ve said that!” she added promptly. “ He could have been anything he ever wanted and he told me he liked to solve puzzles and beside joining the police, that was the next best thing. We played a distant game. I’ve beaten him a couple of times and he won some. Then he caught me in Damascus. I’ve tried to flirt with him, distract him, but he knew my game. He took the merchandise I had stolen, but I slipped away” she smiled. “We continued our game for years.”

“When did you guys fall in love with each other?”

“I…” she didn’t know how to answer. “It’s complicated” she finally said. “A story that I can tell you when you’re older.”

“Oh” Amy looked down disappointed.

“Look Amy,” Sophie put her hand above hers. “Nate and I read your file. We know what happened to you. I’m sorry that you had to go through all that. If…” she paused, tears running down her cheeks. “If I had known all those years ago, I would have made a different choice. I really thought I was going to give you a better future that I could have offered.”

“It’s okay, the car accident wasn’t your fault. I mean, I was angry” Amy admitted. “I couldn’t understand why my real mom and dad didn’t want me, but now I know the story or part of it. And you did come this time” she said, meaning that this time she had been in trouble and her parents came to save her.

“And you can count us from now on” Sophie smiled.

They made their way back to the waiting room. This time Hardison and Parker were there too.

“Is everything okay?” the girfter asked.

“Yes,” Hardison smirked. “Travis Black won’t see the light of day for a very long time. The same goes for his friends”

“I got to boss people around again” Parker smiled satisfied. “I like it when I get to play agent Hagen”

Sophie just shook her head with a chuckle.

Two hours had past when the doctor finally showed up. “Are you here for Nathan Ford?”


	4. Chapter 4

One year later

Sophie and Amy stood in front of a gravestone, Sophie’s  arm was around Amy’s shoulders while the girl rested her head on her mother’s chest. Amy never liked cemeteries, she had always kept away from them. Luckily that morning it was sunshine and the place looked less creepy.

As she stared at the writing engraved on the stone, she felt a couple of tears running down her cheeks.

* * *

 

_“Are you here for Nathan Ford?”_

_They all stood up at once taking a step closer to the doctor. Sophie tried to read his facial expression, but the man in scrubs was impassive. “Doctor, how is he?”_

_“Mister Ford lost a lot of blood. The bullet hit is pulmonary artery and needed to be repaired surgically. Unfortunately, mister Ford went to cardiac arrest a couple of times, so we could only do a temporary fix,  since his body was too weak to sustain the all surgery.”_

_“Is he alive?” Sophie chocked the words._

_“Yes,” Sophie sighed relieved. “we are keeping him under strict observation in ICU. As I said, his heart is very weak but if his vitals show improvement, we’re taking him into surgery again to continue the repair.”_

_“Can we see him?” she asked next._

_“Only through the glass window. I’m sorry, but nobody can go inside .A nurse will show you the way”_

_“Thank you,”_

_He nodded and left them alone. Soon a nice nurse guided them to the ICU room where Nate was staying. Sophie and Amy stood in front of the glass, while the other three members of the team stood right behind them._

_“He looks so…” Parker exclaimed, but she didn’t know how to finish her thought._

_“… fragile.” Hardison continued._

_“Yeah.”_

_“He’s going to okay, right?” the little girl turned her head towards Sophie for reassurance._

_“Of course” she smiled down at her, patting her head. Her eyes then fell on the man lying on the sterile bed, his skin nearly as pale as the bland sheets.  In that moment she didn’t know if the words of comfort were for her daughter or for herself._

* * *

“Are you okay?” a man approached them from behind and put a hand on the girl’s back.

She quietly nodded still staring at the gravestone. “I think it was good coming here” she told him looking up to him. "I needed to sa goodbye"

He smiled down. “There’s someone else I would like you to meet.”

* * *

 

_They stayed for the rest day waiting for news. When the evening arrived, Parker and Hardison took Amy out for dinner and after a lot of shouting and screams, Sophie finally convinced the girl to stay with the two younger members of the team who had the order to take Amy to Sophie’s apartment and keep an eye on her during the night._

_Sophie and Eliot spent the night in the hospital. Sophie because she just could leave Nate alone. She had to be there for when he woke up, if he woke up. And Eliot, he wanted to make sure they were both safe._

_The next morning the medical team took Nate back to the OR, his vitals were strong enough to  undergo another surgery. Hours had passed before the doctor came to them to tell them the surgery went well. More hours passed until Nate was finally moved from ICU into a room. A  full day had passed and the man still hadn’t woken up and they were all worried even though the doctor had assured it was normal with an injury like his._

_Sophie was sitting on a chair next to Nate’s bed. She held his hand in her left one  and with her other hand she was holding a  book she was reading. Amy was sitting by a small table playing with a portable video game Hardison had bought her, or he had Parker stealing, she really missed that part. She sometimes read out load, hoping her voice would bring him back to consciousness, at least to tell her to shut up._

_She sighed and then yawned as she stretched her back. “Amy?” she called out. “Are you hungry?”_

_The girl just shook her head never taking her eyes of the game screen. Sophie sighed deeply again, wondering if she had lost her daughter for a videogame._

_Suddenly she felt movement in her hand. It had happened so suddenly she thought she had imagined it. “Nate?” she whispered._

_There it was again: the mastermind slightly squeezed her hand._

_“Nate” she got up attracting Amy’s attention. “I’m here, open our eyes darling”_

_She saw his eyelids flicker and then she finally saw his intense light blue eyes. “Hey” she smiled down at him._

_“Hey” his voice was rough._

_She let go of his hand to fill a glass of water and put a straw next to his lips. “Thanks” he smiled. “Amy?”_

_“I’m here” the little girl had slowly moved next to his bed, her head down, afraid to look at him._

_“Are you okay?”_

_She nodded. Then she started sobbing and put her arms around Nate’s waist making him grunt in pain. “I’m so sorry. I should have told you about Travis. It’s all my fault” she kept crying._

_Nate gently patted her head while Sophie had rushed to the other side of the bed so that she could hold her in her arms. Both the parents consoled their daughter assuring her it wasn’t her fault._

_“It’s not your fault, baby” Sophie muttered in her hair. “Things like this happened. And I’m sure your father would have done the same again”_

_“But why?”_

_“Because that’s what parents do for their children, they keep them safe” Sophie answered looking at Nate. She knew that he was still feeling guilt for what happened to Sam, that he hadn’t saved him even though they all told him it hadn’t been his fault._

_Nate nodded, tears in his eyes. “We’re a family now. And we have each other’s back”_

_“But if you scare us like this again, Nathan Ford, I’ll kill you myself.” Sophie glared at him._

_“Duly noted” he gave her  a boyish grin._

* * *

 

They stood in front of another gravestone. It was different from the one they had visited before, the one which held her adoptive parents. This read: Samuel John Ford. Beloved son taken away from us too soon.

“Did Maggie leave okay?” Sophie asked Nate lacing her arm through his.

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s always hard this day. I can’t believe it that four years have passed” he sighed.

She rubbed her hand up and down his arm, trying to comfort him and he kissed the top of her head.

“I’d like to hear more stories about him” Amy told him.  She loved when her parents told her stories about their past and recently Nathan had started talking about Sam after Sophie had convinced him it could have been therapeutic for both of them.

He chuckled “I will. He would have loved you. He had always wanted a little sister.”

The girl shrugged. “I wouldn’t have minded a brother too”

“Maybe it’s not too late” Sophie said so quietly that only Nate had heard her and he quickly turned his head frowning. He saw the grifter’s mischievous grin and his eyes widened in realization.

Before he had the time to react, Sophie just kept smiling and turned around. “Okay, let’s go. The other are waiting for us at the restaurant.”

“Coming Mum” Amy followed her and grabbed her hand.

Nate shook his head and smiled. Life was unexpected indeed.  
  
THE END


End file.
